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Build Order Notebook: 6 advanced Terran ladder builds

Thu 3rd May 2012 - 7:27pm

In this article, we'll be looking at some of the most popular and stable Terran builds from the ladder. There are two builds for each matchup, one aggressive and one defensive, so you can find one that fits your play style. As well as the build order itself, I'll have a few notes on its characteristics as well as how it develops, as well as links to more complete guides if these exist, where you can find additional detail and often replays too.

From here, you should move out with your first four Hellions and try to control the map and do damage to Queens laying creep tumours. Produce Banshees and Cloak as soon as you are able, as well as taking a third Command Center. From here, you can proceed into a normal Mech or Tank / Marine mid-game.

This is a powerful all-in strategy that can be effective against unprepared Zerg opponents, particularly in a tournament BO3+ situation. It's an old build easily countered with quick Mutalisks, but it is well distinguished as a very standard reactor Hellion expand and thus can still find success.

From here, you should be producing constantly from your buildings and rallying to your units as they move out across the map. With luck, your Zerg opponent won't expect the extra Marauders, which will do well against the Queens, Spine Crawlers and Roaches that are the usual answer to Hellion pressure. Be aggressive and capitalise on your opponent's unreadiness.

From here you’ve got a relatively safe Fast Expand up. Remember that bunker, as it’s critical to holding early pressure. Now, MKP transitions into his favoured MMM against Protoss. Remember to scout for pylons around the 7 minute mark; if you suspect a Warp Gate push then build a second and third bunker and pull SCVs.

You should move out for an attack with your first two Medivacs; by the time you get to your opponents base you should have your +1 upgrade done. Use your Medivacs to rescue units from forcefields. Follow up with a third base, more upgrades and more Barracks.

This is an incredibly unusual build that transitions from a 1/1/1 cloaked Banshee build into a full 'Sky Terran', using Starport units almost exclusively. It's so weird that I almost didn't include it, but it's great for ladder because almost no one will have encountered it before. However, it's not stable enough to be a primary strategy - mix this in with more reliable strategies such as Marine King's FE into MMM.

From here, you've just done a standard cloaked Banshee build. This is where it gets interesting. The supply count can vary substantially due to enemy pressure (or lack thereof), so we'll omit them from here. You'll want to be trying to poke the enemy with your cloaked Banshee, but without losing it. Economic damage is great, but keeping your Banshees alive takes precedence.

– Starport– Banshee– Raven– Viking– Command Center– Engineering Bay

Now, you'll have two Starports and a Command Center. From here, float the Command Centre to the low ground and turn it into a Planetary Fortress. With your air power, you'll have trouble defending - so the uncharacteristic PF actually makes a lot of sense. From here, you'll want to continue into a Banshee / Raven / Viking composition, adding two Starports per base as well as a pair of Armories for upgrades. In terms of gameplay, you'll want to harass him as much as possible whilst expanding - winning the economic long game with Planetary Fortresses and air power.

At this point, you have 8 Marines and 3 Hellions to attack with. Walk to your opponent’s base, near one of the cliffs of his main. Load up the Marines and drop them into the main, with the Hellions left as close as possible to the cliff to cover. Once the Marines are up, transfer the Hellions up as well.

Once your damage has been dealt, expand into a Marine Tank composition or go for a Banshee with Cloak to capitalise on damaged SCVs and maintain the pressure.

Fast Expand, No Gas -> Banshees and CloakGas First -> Engineering Bay at 5:30, Turret in minerals and production areaReapers -> Keep one Marine in Bunker, the rest in a group to interceptCloaked Banshee -> Viking, save for scansMarine / Tank timing attack -> Tank / Viking

Conclusion

So that's it - six Terran build orders for you to add to your notebooks. I hope you found them useful. If you have any corrections, contributions or comments please share them below. I’ll be posting next with Zerg build orders, so stay tuned for these ones Zerg Players! If you're a Protoss, then I've already posted six ladder builds right here. Thanks for reading.

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